TENDON SURGERY

The young guy in the surgical waiting room had one hand in an impressive bandage. Maybe this was tendon surgery follow-up day; my son and I were there to have three severed and stitched-up tendons looked at, in the wake of his fall through a glass door shortly before Christmas. The other man in the waiting room described how on Thanksgiving morning he got in the way of the electric knife his girlfriend was using to slice the turkey, and had to have some tendons on the back of his hand reconnected.

I didn't follow exactly how this injury was supposed to have occurred. His story struck me as just the tiniest bit fishy around the edges. I found myself remembering a case I had recently typed for a criminal defense attorney, involving a lovers' quarrel in an Italian restaurant, an extra-large pizza knife, a trip to the hospital for him, and criminal charges for her.

I didn't say so. If the guy with the bandaged hand wants to save face, protect his girlfriend, or whatever, I'm willing to let him. I hope his tendons heal appropriately and that he and his girlfriend find approaches to conflict resolution that don't involve things like electric knives.